He led off by saying that he hadn't done enough head to head benchmarks to make direct comparisons between the consoles. But based on his experience (Mr. Carmack still remains actively involved in programming top id Software titles and pioneering new graphics techniques) he says he believes they're "very close" in capabilities and that "they're both very good".

In some ways this comparison is bad news for Microsoft as it calls into queston the company's claims that its console is five times as powerful when connected to the cloud as when processing offline (if anyone would fully leverage the Xbox One's full potential, it would likely be Mr. Carmack).